Phosphorus and nitrogen limitation of algal biomass across trophic gradients

Regression results based on data from 46 northern temperate lakes show that total phosphorus (TP) is the best predictor for phytoplankton (as chl-a) at lower trophic levels, TP < 200 mg · m^–3. A regression including both TP and TN as regressors is the best predictor for lakes with TP > 200 mg · m^–3. However, the good correlation is probably due to a high correlation between lake average chl-a (all years observed) and lake average TP and TN. Within single hypereutrophic lakes, TN alone is the best predictor. It was not possible to identify a medium trophic domain where TN and TP in combination was the best predictor for chl-a. The ratio TN:TP in the water decreases from about 40 to about 5 with increasing trophic level. Optimum TN:TP ratio for algal species with high abundance during late summer and autumn reflects this decreasing ratio, but within a lesser range, i.e., 20 to 5. In contrast, TN:TP ratios for species abundant during the early vernal period showed no, or an inverse, relation to the TN:TP ratio of the water.     

Agricultural policy reforms and sustainable land management: a New Zealand case study

This paper examines the link between poverty and land management within the context of New Zealand's almost total removal of subsidies to agriculture since 1984. The impact of these policy changes is explored through the findings from a detailed study of sixteen farms in the North Island hill country. Stress is identified as a primary link between social damage and environmental degradation. This link reinforces the impact of other linkages expressed in reduced production, lower stocking rates, and reduced capital inputs. Deregulation is claimed to be good. This paper shows that in certain circumstances this is not so.     

Issues of Spatial and Temporal Variability in Climate Impact Studies

The accuracy of impact estimates relating climate change to regional-scale agricultural production is constrained by the temporal and spatial resolution of climate change projections. Several techniques have been used to compensate for these limitations in order to provide reasonable estimates of the impact of climate change on crop yield. One approach assumes that variability over time can substitute for spatial variability, thereby reducing the need to estimate the impacts at a spatially dense network of stations—an assumption that has not been generally tested. This study evaluates this assumption using methods similar to those employed in the climate impact literature. The findings suggest that current practices are generally defensible if the goal is to provide a range of possible crop responses to climate change. However, the results also show that the assumption is highly sensitive to specific interactions at the soil-plant-atmosphere interface and, consequently, does not hold under certain circumstances.     

湖北大别山区土地资源生产力估算

本文以湖北大别山区为例,提出了自然条件复杂,资料缺乏的山区土地资源第一性生产力的估算方法,并计算了湖北大别山区土地资源的生产力。即在土地资源带及类型(组合)区划分的基础上,以资源类型(组合)区为基本单元,通过典型地区抽样获取资料,运用多种数学模型测算,并经过综合判定,求得各类型(组合)区,资源带主要作物的第一性生产力。     

洛阳城市-区域生态系统分析与生态城市建设的关键问题

洛阳市是我国著名的古都之一,在我国乃至世界的城市中具有鲜明特色和典型意义.在科学分析洛阳市域城市-区域生态系统结构、功能的基础上,有针对性地研究并解决生态城市建设的关键问题,对洛阳市的城镇化进程和可持续发展有重要意义.这些关键问题包括:建设洛南新区,增加生态容量;发挥开放空间的生态功能,调整生态城市空间格局;以生态理念经营城市,优化资源配置.     

洞庭湖流域水生态系统服务功能经济价值研究

以洞庭湖流域水生态系统为例,在明确河湖库塘生态系统服务功能内涵的基础上,运用生态学与生态经济学方法对洞庭湖流域各类水生态系统服务功能经济价值进行了评估。结果表明,全流域河湖库塘水生态系统服务功能总价值量为1106.19亿元,约占湖南省2004年GDP(5612.26亿元)的19.7%,其中,城镇和农村生活供水、工农业生产供水、水力发电、内陆航运等直接利用价值为415.698亿元;调洪、输沙、水资源贮存等间接利用价值为690.492亿元。可以认为,流域水生态系统服务功能对湖南省工农业生产的持续发展,维系生态环境健康和人民生命财产安全起到了不可替代的支撑和保障作用。     

The role and value of local knowledge in Jamaican agriculture: adaptation and change in small-scale farming

Local knowledge has played an active role in the lives of rural communities in virtually every part of the world. In Jamaica, traditional cropping systems based on local informal knowledge have been practiced since the days of slavery and play a vital role in meeting food security. Yet, some negative attitudes remain about the legitimacy and relevance of small-scale farmers' local and traditional knowledge. This paper discusses some conceptual and empirical issues related to the application of local knowledge among small-scale food farmers in central Jamaica. The paper argues that contextually speaking, local and traditional knowledge is valuable, adaptable and necessary in coping with risk and uncertainty in a changing world, while cautioning against a misguided notion of traditional knowledge as a panacea to all the ills of local agriculture.     

Stochastic modelling of soil moisture dynamics in a grassland of Qilian Mountain at point scale

Stochastic modeling of soil moisture dynamics is crucial to the quantitative understanding of plant responses to water stresses,hydrological control of nutrient cycling processes,water competition among plants,and some other ecological dynamics,and thus has become a hotspot in ecohydrology at present.In this paper,we based on the continuously monitored data of soil moisture during 2002―2005 and daily precipitation date of 1992―2006,and tried to make a probabilistic analysis of soil moisture dynamics at point scale in a grassland of Qilian Mountain by integrating the stochastic model improved by Laio and the Monte Carlo method.The results show that the inter-annual variations for the soil moisture patterns at different depths are very significant,and that the coefficient of variance(CV) of surface soil moisture(20 cm) is almost continually kept at about 0.23 whether in the rich or poor rainy years.Interestingly,it has been found that the maximal CV of soil moisture has not always appeared at the surface layer.Comparison of the analytically derived soil moisture probability density function(PDF) with the statistical distribution of the observed soil moisture data suggests that the stochastic model can reasonably describe and predict the soil moisture dynamics of the grassland in Qilian Mountain at point scale.By extracting the statistical information of the historical precipitation data in 1994―2006,and inputting them into the stochastic model,we analytically derived the long-term soil moisture PDF without considering the inter-annual climate fluctuations,and then numerically derived the one when considering the inter-annual fluctuation effects in combination with a Monte-Carlo procedure.It was found that,though the peak position of the probability density distribution significantly moved towards drought when considering the disturbance forces,and its width was narrowed,accordingly its peak value was increased,no significant bimodality was observed in the soil moisture dynamics under the given intensity of random fluctuation disturbance.     

Effects of surface characteristics on infiltration patterns in an arid shrub desert

Precipitation is often the sole source of water replenishment in arid and semi‐arid areas and, thus, plays a pertinent role in sustaining desert ecosystems. Revegetation over 40 years using mainly Artemisia ordosica and Caragana korshinskii at Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station near Lanzhou, China, has established a dwarf‐shrub and microbiotic soil crust cover on the stabilized sand dunes. The redistribution of infiltrated moisture through percolation, root extraction, and evapotranspiration pathways was investigated. Three sets of time‐domain reflectometry (TDR) probes were inserted horizontally at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 cm depths below the ground surface in a soil pit. The three sets of TDR probes were installed in dwarf‐shrub sites of A. ordosica and C. korshinskii community with and without a microbiotic soil crust cover, and an additional set was placed in a bare sand dune area that had neither vegetation nor a microbiotic soil crust present. Volumetric soil moisture content was recorded at hourly intervals and used in the assessment of infiltration for the different surface covers. Infiltration varied greatly, from 7·5 cm to more than 45 cm, depending upon rainfall quantity and soil surface conditions. In the shrub community area without microbiotic soil crust cover, infiltration increased due to preferential flow associated with root tunnels. The microbiotic soil crust cover had a significant negative influence on the infiltration for small rainfall events (～10 mm), restricting the infiltration depth to less than 20 cm and increasing soil moisture content just beneath the soil profile of 10 cm, whereas it was not as strong or clear for larger rainfall events (～60 mm). For small rainfall events, the wetting front depth for the three kinds of surface cover was as follows: shrub community without microbiotic soil crust > bare area > shrub community with microbiotic soil crust. In contrast, for large rainfall events, infiltration was similar in shrub communities with and without microbiotic soil crust cover, but significantly higher than measured in the bare area. Soil water extraction by roots associated with evapotranspiration restricted the wetting front penetration after 1 to 3 h of rainfall. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国陆地生态系统脆弱带遥感模型

本研究通过对我国陆地生态系统8个典型样地的植被指数取样实验和图像计算结果发现，这8个样地植被指数随着水、热因子的季节变化，在时间和空间上具有一定的“绿波推移”和“景观更替”规律。在中国东部湿润的季风区（样地1－3），随着纬度的增高，其月平均植被指数与月平均气温有较大的相关。发现降水相对丰沛的地带，热量和光照条件的变化成为植被生长和变化的自然限制因子；而在中国北方森林－森林草原－典型昌原－荒漠草原－荒漠地带上，随着从东部（湿润地区）到西部（干旱地区）干湿条件的更替，月平均植被指数与降水多寡有较大的正相关关系。在8个样地上都呈现出共同的规律，即定向风的分布与植被指数的分布在时间和空间上具有逆相分布的“套合关系”。尤其在时间上有相逆套合关系，这正是中国北方沙尘暴和沙漠化加剧的自然原因。本研究定量地给出了我国陆地不同经纬度带生态系统脆弱季节和累积时间的分布。